


Mind Like Mine

by lingering_l0v3z



Series: If the board was a city [2]
Category: The Queen's Gambit (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Benny's Perspective, Bickering, F/M, Mostly conversation, Preamble, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28740888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lingering_l0v3z/pseuds/lingering_l0v3z
Summary: “Because I need you.” Those definite words almost made me groan. If this had been a different setting, they would have been exactly what I wanted to hear. Right now, they just confirmed my suspicions regarding her latest actions.
Relationships: Beth Harmon & Benny Watts, Beth Harmon/Benny Watts
Series: If the board was a city [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097531
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	Mind Like Mine

**Author's Note:**

> This one follows the events of What the Rumours Say!

I stood and extended a hand to her. “Miss Harmon.” 

At the emphasized word, her smile widened to reveal white teeth that only added to her perfection. Perfection, seriously? The thought annoyed me. 

Quickly taking off her gloves and handing them as well as her purse to one of her guards, she clasped my hand and shook it firmly. 

The first touch shot a bolt through my arm straight to my spine...and lower. It left me nearly breathless which baffled me since shaking a hand, albeit it being a slightly smaller one than I was used to, was normal. 

The slight widening of her eyes and the parting of her lips told me that she felt a similar sting. Just as displeasure was my first reaction to the sensation, her facial expression quickly changed into narrowed eyes and stiff puckered lip.

“Benny Watts. It’s a pleasure.” It was and wasn’t at the same time.

“Elizabeth Harmon. Pleasures all mine.” Her voice was lyrical even when she was clearly annoyed and that displeased me more. I should be angrier at the part where she nearly broke apart my neatly planned business, yet this obviously misplaced lust took the cake. 

Her hand slipped from mine and made quick work of the buttons of her coat which she again handed to one of her guards. A semi-formal white dress clung to her body, exposing her collarbone and unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately) for me, only a respectable amount of cleavage. 

She spun on her heel and pinned the man still sitting on the chair across from mine with a stare. He gaped at her for a moment, probably stunned by her beauty as the rest of the crowd was. With as little movement as a tilt of her head, Harmon had the poor man scrambling from the seat and offering it to her with a flare. 

The way she rewarded him with a small smile as she daintily smoothed her dress to sit made the man look like he was ready to kiss her feet. It was easy to be distracted by her, but I knew that this woman was lethal at the core. 

Glancing at me expectantly, I made a show of slowly walking back towards my seat, tapping the back of it twice before allowing myself to sit and recline on it. She was a person used to getting her way and apparently did not seem to care about my status just as much as I didn’t care about hers. 

With a sweep of my hand, the onlookers that remained scattered quickly. Without a doubt, none of them knew Harmon’s face before tonight but it wouldn’t be long before the papers found out her association with the crime world, especially if she was in my current company.

At the same moment, Harmon regarded her guards, “Be dears and keep Mr. Watts’ guards company by the bar. Send over a Gibson, and…” 

Her eyes shot to me leaving the sentence open for me to order. “A beer. Schiltz.” 

The men nodded slightly to her and retreated towards the bar where my men were indeed stationed. Leave it to Harmon to find them before even taking a seat. 

With no one else in our vicinity, she crossed her legs and placed her hands on the arms of her chair. “It seems your reputation precedes you, Mr. Watts. Even in Cincinnati, you draw such a crowd.” 

I shrugged. “If your idea to meet me in a hotel lobby only a state away from New York was about discretion, it was a major oversight, kid.”

My eyes weren’t broken. She was by no means the child that Shaibel always referred to her as, but my annoyance over her antics over the last months and the unreasonable pull that she had on me encouraged me to egg her on. By the way her eyes flared and steeled, I knew it worked and I relished that knowledge. 

“Discretion was never part of my plan. You are Benny Watts. As if there wasn’t a single soul on the East coast who doesn’t know your face. I simply had some business in Kentucky and shopping to do in the city. No point in making my way straight back to New York for a meeting.” She smirked at me then. 

It wasn’t stated but I knew what she was saying. I wasn’t important enough for her to change the rest of her schedule for. The amount of people I had murdered for such insolence, yet knowing Harmon was untouchable made her an enigma in my eyes. 

Before I could respond, her attention turned to the waiter who had been approaching. The man sat our drinks down and with her kind thanks and my mumbled ones, he left. 

Harmon reached out with lithe fingers and took the Gibson in her hand. It was hard to look away while she took a sip, her lipstick leaving an imprint on the glass. I leaned closer and grabbed my beer, taking a sip to cool myself.

It seemed that in the thirty seconds we had spoken, we had already managed to insult one another. I wasn’t about to act surprised at that revelation. It seemed we had been trading insults for years now, shoving middle fingers in each other’s faces through the disruption of millions of dollars worth of business deals. 

“Speaking of knowing faces, I suppose that I should be grateful you came in person at all.” Again, my eyes dragged across her face. “You are a little bit more of a surprise than I thought you would be.”

She hummed, disinterested in my insinuation. “My gender, I presume. I never did understand why that mattered so much. E Harmon was who the media said was taking over and after not being able to find the proper first name, thoroughly ran with the idea that I was a man. No need to change the misconception. People’s misogynistic views can be an advantage for myself, regardless of how much it irks me.”

It would be stupid to assume that this woman was not the same person who obliterated my profits just because she wore dresses instead of pants. Her eyes and words burned with the same authority as her actions did. 

“Was a surprise, but I don’t care much for your gender. Would have made putting a hit out on you easier though.”

“Would not have made any more of the attempts successful,” she said and smiled at me pleasantly, innocently. I knew she was anything but. 

I cleared my throat suddenly. It was time to get down to business before we got distracted with more insults.

“So why exactly have you been encroaching on my territory? It was established between the Harmon and Watts families that the upper east side was never to be touched by your family.” I kept my voice low and firm.

Harmon swirled the glass still in hand. “You forfeited that agreement when you took over one of my routes in the north a week after Shaibel died.”

“Come now, Harmon. We both know that you were just settling into your role at the time and didn’t need the extra pressure. I was just trying to help you out and besides, I gave it back.” It was all bullshit. Of course, I tried to creep into her area, testing the power of the new Harmon boss. She knew it and I knew she knew I knew it too. 

I was deeply satisfied when her anger became more evident. “After I intercepted one of your shipments and nearly burned down a storage facility. Don’t play coy with me, Mr. Watts.”

“Benny. I think we were past pleasantries the moment you ordered a man to enter my office via the window nearest my liquor cabinet. Clumsy bastard toppled the highest shelf containing my most expensive bottles.”

I could tell she was resisting the urge to laugh and instead allowed herself a simple roll of her eyes. “Well, Benny. You survived. Besides, we both know that if I really wanted you dead, you would be.”

A hum escaped me. It was a sound that neither affirmed nor denied the notion. “If that is the truth then I have to question why you are keeping me alive.”

“Because I need you.” Those definite words almost made me groan. If this had been a different setting, they would have been exactly what I wanted to hear. Right now, they just confirmed my suspicions regarding her latest actions.

I wracked through my brain, sifting through the numerous moves Harmon had made over the months. All the intimidation, all meetings with the other families. A smile spread on my face. Her mind truly did work like mine. 

“Do you know why the European crime syndicates spread so well?” Her thin eyebrow elevated at the sudden change in topic. “Unlike us, they work together. Yeah, they have separate families and loyalties but there is enough mutual respect between each of them to work under a larger council with a single nominated head. Americans? Forget about it. We are too busy being independent.”

“You have a very round-about way of saying things, Benny. But I believe we are on the same train of thought now.”

I scoffed. “We’ve always been on the same thought, Harmon. It’s why it has taken us this long to meet unlike the others who caved within a year and a half of your siege.”

Her lips puckered slightly in thought. 

“I have read about you before my grandfather died.” She must have seen the smug look on my face because she continued quickly, her voice coming out agitated. “Don’t let it get to your head. It seemed like you have established some resemblance of organization by long ago establishing city boundaries. Yet, it is clear that these are loose borders and there is still no council or a main seat.”

“A seat that you no doubt want.” The families tried not to step on each other's toes knowing exactly who had more leverage over the other. Yet, she was right in her want to decrease the tension further. We lost many men because of infighting when we could be using the numbers to increase profits or protect our less than legal activities from the growing power of the law.

“Afraid I’m going to dethrone you?” 

For a long time, my family had been at the top of the heap so while I always thought it was possible to create a council, I truly saw no need to collaborate with the others other than on the occasional project. That is until Harmon began to put things in motion and made it impossible for me to spread my business without some potential collaboration from her. 

Anger ate away at me for what I was about to admit, but no way I was going to let her see how much she agitated me. “You’re already on your way to it.” 

Harmon’s eyes widened. Bet she didn’t see that coming, but I knew better. If things kept going the way they currently were with multiple draws, I would be more likely to lose my kingdom while she only suffered a small loss. If I was to fall from the top, I would rather come in second place than last. 

Her look of disbelief prompted me to speak again. “I mean it.”

“Please,” she rolled her eyes. It was an act that made her seem more like the young lady that she was instead of the tyrant of a leader that she normally portrayed. There was something about this world that made us grow up faster than needed. “You had no trouble recovering after your flow of opiates from Asia decreased.”

“Trafficking doesn’t count. I’ve been in the game longer, more connections.” I reclined in my chair. “That aside, you’re the only one I see being able to get the families in check. See through all our shit even before we make trouble. You attack like Alekhine, knowing where to break the rules to win the game.”

Harmon smiled at my chess reference. I hadn’t forgotten that it was a common interest of ours.

“I didn’t think you would take this all so well.” She seemed pleased with my words.

“I don’t need you to decimate my side of the board like you did with the others to see how this will end for my family if we continue.” I wasn’t exactly used to laying my pride on the ground. “But believe me, I’m raging inwardly.” 

Taking a sip from her almost empty glass, she answers flippantly, “Well it doesn’t show.”

A couple moments of silence passed between us before she spoke again. “So, is that why you wanted to meet? To tell me I won our three-year long game?”

“And that you’re going to need help.” A raised eyebrow was my answer. “Everyone needs a second. You’ve been doing fine corralling them but you’re going to need someone who knows more about the city and about the families’ history if you want to keep them from betraying you or each other.”

Her lip tilted in a smirk. “Would Beltik do?”

I returned her conspiratorial smile. “Someone better. Someone more mature.”

“Oh? Who do you have in mind?” This woman was as amusing as she was clever and knew exactly how to push my buttons.

My finger tapped against the beer in my hand. “When will you be back in New York?”

“That depends.” Her eyes bore into mine and neither of us looked away. “If you are helping me with them, what will keep you in line?”

“You even said it yourself, Harmon. You need me. Besides, you’ve had the power to run my business down once and it wouldn’t be hard for you to do it again. I see what you’re attempting to do, and I support it. While we all try to slit each other's throats, the FBI has been gaining power. Surely, you’ve seen that sooner or later the damn feds will be a bigger pain in the ass than Matt and Mike’s bootlegging. 

“Just stay out of my territory, keep your hands off my suppliers, and I’ll support you while we assemble this council. Though I can’t say I’ll blindly follow your every command without giving in my two cents.” 

“I would never be so naive to think you would stay quiet, Benny. I’m not looking to get assassinated by blatantly being the boss of all bosses. I need them to concede once they see the need for this council.”

“Unlike us, they are a little bit slower to see the next move, but they will. We’ll see to it.”

I let silence pass between us as she mauled over the suggestion. While she thought, her eyes wandered to the ceiling which contained nothing but a wide expanse of the beige paint of the hotel. When her eyes finally flitted to mine, there was clarity in the deep hazels.

“Okay, I’ll see you in New York.”

**Author's Note:**

> Bit of a slow burn so hope I didn't bore y'all. Please let me know what you think! :D


End file.
